This invention relates to a shuttle for embroidery and stitching machines. In multi-needle embroidery machines, the shuttles keep moving constantly up and down along their path, passing through the loops momentarily formed by the needles during the embroidering operation. When changing color or repeat (round of pattern), the needles are at rest while the shuttle continues to oscillate in a vertical direction. It may then happen that the shuttle thread gets caught between the sliding surface and the shuttle race, or that it adheres to the underside of the cover. Such entanglement is detrimental to the evenness of the embroidery pattern being worked and may even lead to a breakage of the shuttle thread.
An object of the present invention is to create a shuttle by which the danger of the shuttle thread becoming jammed is lessened or entirely avoided.
This object is achieved according to the invention by a novel shuttle having its side wall provided with a slit for the exit or discharge of the thread, instead of an annular exit opening. The slit is designed to slope upward towards the rear end of the shuttle.